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Wow, I know. Im not sure how everyone will take this. Since we all have probably been to Hawaii as surfers. We all love the place. The waves. The people...

But I think it is about time, as surfers and as people that we stop allowing Hawaii to claim the sport of surfing as their own. Yes, they are responsible for spreading surfing throughout the world. And yes, they were most commonly seen surfing by europrean sailors etc hundreds of years ago....

So, Hawaiians who are all agro about the waves and protecting the sport and idea that they "invented" is BS. They are doing the same thing to protect their waves that guys in CA are doing. Guys in AUS are doing and guys in the midatlantic do. They are protecting their turf........ BUT LONG before any hawaiians were surfing, or even inhabiting that island chain... surfing was happening...

but lets get the facts straight once and for all....

Modern scientific archaeology indicates, as many Peruvians have long claimed, that surfing was invented on their north Pacific coast by pre-Columbian cultures using reed boats to surf the waves. These boats are similar in shape to surfboards but are made from the reeds of a plant. Pottery from as early as 1000b.c. unearthed in Peru shows people wave riding. For those who think surfing was invented in Hawaii keep in mind no one lived on the Hawaiian Islands until 300-750AD or at least 1500 years and possibly 2000 years after surfing has been confirmed in Peru. To be certain, Peru has the oldest archaeological and cultural evidence in existance. Additionally, it is clear that the lineage in Peru originates in the Pre-Incan past 3000 years ago. It continues to the present in both the ancient and modern forms. As proven by archeologists this tradition can be traced back to 1000bc. Surfing is depicted on ceremonial vessels of the Viru Culture, an antiquity of 3000 years, where you can clearly see a man standing aboard a little reed craft, surfing.
It is known that Polynesians surfed. This was witnessed to be very similar to its modern form by European sources, such a Captain Cook, during his explorations less than 300 years ago. Because it was so deeply rooted in their culture, it is safe to assume that it had been taking place before then, however, we cannot be sure as there is absolutely no physical evidence in Polynesia like that found in Peru.
This means that the earliest surfing in the world, with actual physical evidence, took place in Peru. There is no anthropological or archaeological evidence for a Polynesian origin of surfing before the mid 1700s.

Lets talk about it... Im not trying to start an argument. I am just simply stating facts. And I figured that a surfing forum is the perfect place to light up this conversation....

And to the other comments, I feel you on the imperialistic outlook at americans and outsiders... But one thing that Hawaiians need to remember is that we saved them from speaking Japanese and we also saved their land, their ecosystem, their whales and their waves. If the US did not take control of that land during wartimes, Hawaii would have been ruined. ?

Zach,

Good points allow me to add to it

America was not imperialistic from 19th Century through 20th century if you ever seen a map of the British and French Colonies in southeast Asia and eastern Pacific Islands they had the corner marketed. America was well know as an "isolationist" country. The British and French were more or less forced to abandoned their colonial holdings to pay off war debt. For the record, Hawaii was discovered by an British explorer in the 1700's, a monarchy ruled Hawaii until the end of the 19th century when wealthy Europeans and American businessman over threw the Queen. For the next 60 + years Hawaii was annexed, self governed became a territory then it wasn't until 1959 became 50th State. I'm sure historians might ponder the question if it wasn't for Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor would the Jap's have invaded the Islands. The Japs ran the Brit's off all their colonies and considering Hawaii was is so strategically located they very well could have.

For the record, even after WWII we didn't annex any "holdings" in Europe, the American and British zones were returned to (West) Germany while Russia kept their Zone. Even the Jap Islands were returned to Japan. We might have bases in the Pacific but the countries are self governed. I'm not say'n we have not made some mistakes but we not the "pigs" some make us out to be.

Yeah, I figured what better place to have this discussion than on a forum for surfers. We all feel a huge positive influence by HI as surfers. I was just putting it out there. I knew there would be at least a few angry responses.

But its an interesting topic. The whole history and foundation of what we all like to do so much. I think it sheds some interesting light on that south american area and culture. That is a pretty cool thing to have introduced these practices to the world. I haven't researched it too much, but maybe there are some deeper links to peruvians and the polynesians. Maybe the peruvians at one point were part of he migration over there.